


Secrets Kept and Told

by crowstakeflight (skyrxca)



Series: Zuko and the Freedom Fighters [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ?? kinda zuko has nightmare and jet is there, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Set after Zuko Alone, i didnt rewatch right before writing this so, jet is def ooc because i made him more understanding, there could be some inaccuracies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:02:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25141339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyrxca/pseuds/crowstakeflight
Summary: Zuko joins the Freedom Fighters on their journey to Ba Sing Se.
Relationships: Jet & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zuko and the Freedom Fighters [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821217
Comments: 4
Kudos: 64





	Secrets Kept and Told

With no clear destination in mind, Zuko is galloping away from the village on his ostrich-horse as fast as he can. He’s angry and wants to continue the outburst of flames from earlier, but he is keeping his breath steady. 

He thought Lee and his family would understand that even though he was a firebender, he wasn’t like the rest of the Fire Nation. 

After training their son with the dao and helping them around their farm, had he not proven they could trust him? He was already leaving the village when Lee’s mom had come after him so he could help rescue her son. He didn’t have to go back, but he did anyway. 

While staying in that village and interacting with that family, he thought about the other places he had seen in the years he had been banished. He’s had to come to terms with the fact that what the Fire Nation is doing is not right. 

Why isn’t Uncle here to help him through this? Oh right, Zuko turned him away, the only person who has been there for him since his mother left. 

It’s hard to take in the fact that everyone he meets will only see Fire Nation. Not surprising, since he is part of the royal line. Just one look at him and they will know, his golden eyes are part of what will give him away. 

The burn scar on his face is probably the best-worst thing that could’ve been given to him. It disguises him while outside the Fire Nation, he’s among others who know what it’s like to be burned. 

Thinking back on this scar, how could he have been such a fool to think his father would want him back? The Avatar hadn’t been seen in nearly a hundred years when Zuko was banished. Fire Lord Ozai did not want him to return. In the Fire nation, he is a disgrace. 

Prince Zuko, son of Lady Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai, the banished prince, has no power in or out of the Fire Nation. 

The chances of allies being found are slim. The bridge is charred between him and the Avatar and his friends. How would they be able to trust someone who has actively been searching for and attacking them?

“Just kidding about the times before, I’m good now, remember when I saved you from Zhao, Avatar?” Zuko shakes his head at that, he doesn’t even know the Avatar’s name. At this point in time, he’s just going to see where his ostrich-horse takes him. Maybe he’ll stumble upon Uncle Iroh and they’d be able to travel together again.

The ostrich-horse starts slowing down once they are a good distance away from the village, no one should be chasing them this far out into the countryside. Zuko leads the ostrich-horse to a stream and lays down using a tree root as a pillow.

“What am I going to do now? Where can I go?” He pulls out his Blue Spirit mask as if it could start talking back to him. “You could come with us?” A girl’s voice startles him, he jumps up with his swords drawn. 

Now he’s looking at two people, both wearing makeshift armor. The girl who spoke, wielding a knife, and a boy on the other end of a bow and arrow. 

Zuko scoffs. “You’d really offer a stranger to join you on your journey? But then, here we are with our weapons at the ready, are you looking for a fight?” 

While Zuko is ready for anything to come at him and trusts no one, there is a small part of him that wishes this won’t end in a fight. Not only is he physically exhausted from the fight that morning and traveling for hours, but he is so tired of constantly being on edge around others and wondering when he’ll need to use his swords (or worse, firebending) to retreat again. 

“We’re just being cautious.” Zuko spins around to see a boy around his age with a hook sword in each hand propped against his shoulders. 

The boy continues, “We are serious about you joining us if you’d like. We’re on our way to Ba Sing Se for a fresh start. Looks like you might need one too.” 

Zuko’s eyeing the wheatgrass this boy has sticking out of his mouth, it moves slightly each time he talks. 

“My name is Li, I’d like to join you on your trip to Ba Sing Se.” Now he has a destination, and some prospective allies. Maybe they could become friends even, if the Spirits allow it. 

“Jet.” Wheatgrass boy, Jet smiles. “That’s Smellerbee with the knife and Longshot in the tree.”

With dusk approaching, they make camp at that spot. They shared some stories of their travels, as they ate, before tucking in for the night. 

________________

As usual, Zuko is up with the sun. His morning meditation helps him come to terms with the fact that he’s running away from his responsibilities. The people that he will be traveling with are nice enough, he just hopes they never find out who he truly is. From the conversations they had around the campfire, these former Freedom Fighters detest anything to do with the Fire Nation. 

With this meditation, he is leaving behind Prince Zuko, and moving on as Li. A load seems to be taken off his mind at that, no one has high expectations for him as Li. There isn’t a father to constantly disappoint or a sister to rub in her victory as the favorite child. He’ll get to travel with the people he met last night and start a new life, possibly with them, in Ba Sing Se. 

After meditating, Longshot is the only other person awake. Zuko smiles over at him, getting a nod in response. He’s cleaning his arrows, Zuko would like to see him in action sometime. How does he compare to the Yuyan archers? Zuko shivers at the thought of his last experience with them, he’s glad he doesn’t have to worry about Zhao anymore. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t other generals who would be more than happy to see him out of the royal family picture completely. 

Zuko takes out his Blue Spirit mask to look it over. Last night, the Freedom Fighters had asked about it. They had seen the wanted posters from the Fire Nation. They had heard the stories of the Blue Spirit helping towns. While traveling on his ship, Zuko has come across plenty of port towns, some better off than others. 

There are towns that are so beaten down by the Fire Nation soldiers and he couldn’t let innocent people be punished for things they hadn’t done, for unreasonable taxes they couldn’t afford, for being unlucky enough to be born in a Fire Nation colony. Aren’t they Fire Nation as well? 

Once he saw how the people in these towns were being treated, he understood that what his father is doing is wrong. He donned the Blue Spirit mask and snuck people food, stole things back from the soldiers, and sometimes even fought soldiers. He always ensured that the people wouldn’t get hurt for stealing, he would reveal himself to the soldiers, so they would be on the hunt for the Blue Spirit. He makes sure he is seen leaving each town, masked of course.

Obviously, he couldn’t tell the Freedom Fighters the entire story. But if they noticed any holes in his story, they didn’t question him about them. They actually were enthusiastic listeners and even told of some of their feats as well. They offered him a place in the Freedom Fighters, even though they aren’t planning on fighting anything at the moment, you never know what could happen. Zuko was shocked when they asked him, but quickly accepted the offer. For now, as Li, he had a place where he was wanted. 

________________

After Smellerbee and Jet join them, they eat breakfast, some fish they caught from the river and cooked over the fire. They then set on their way. It’ll take a few weeks’ time to get to Ba Sing Se. They aren’t in any hurry, but they are eager to start their new lives.

“So, what made you choose Ba Sing Se? Why not find another forest to live in?” Zuko asks Jet, the two were walking next to each other with Smellerbee and Longshot following behind. 

While the Freedom Fighters and Zuko exchanged stories last night, there is no way they could’ve talked about everything that they all have been through. 

“In the colonies, you hear whispers of how great Ba Sing Se is. We wanted to see it ourselves.” Jet pauses before continuing. “After my mistake with the village, Fire Nation soldiers were searching the forest for us. The Freedom Fighters had to split up, with so few of us, finding a new area and making a home in the forest isn’t feasible.” 

Jet looked so upset as he said that. Zuko feels the urge to comfort him, something he’s surprised by considering he just met him the day before. There’s just something about Jet that is pulling him in. 

“It must have been hard leaving, when you’ve lived there for so long. I know what that’s like,” Zuko says. He unconsciously reaches up to the scar on his face. Once he realizes what he was doing, he jerks his hand down.

Jet sees this and chooses to hold his tongue on the question he has been dying to ask. He thought the scar could’ve been from any of the Blue Spirits interactions with the Fire Nation soldiers. But from all the stories Li told, he hadn't once mentioned his scar. Maybe once they both get to know one another, Li will entrust more details about himself to Jet. 

“The forest was my home, yeah, but there’s no going back now. I messed up and now I have to do my best to make it up to them. They deserve a better life.” He nods back at the two behind them. 

“They do. I hope you all find what you’re looking for in life in Ba Sing Se.” Zuko spits out his next thought before his brain-to-mouth filter kicks in. “You deserve something better too, you know. And we just met but I can tell they care about you.”

“Thanks, Li. I know you would’ve gotten along great with the rest of the Freedom Fighters, considering how you’ve gotten on my kids’ good side so fast.”

“Kids?”

“They’re all my kids, all the Freedom Fighters were children who lost their homes and families. I started the group and I was the oldest by some years, they became my kids.” 

This bit of information was shocking to Zuko. They were around the same age and Zuko didn’t think he’d have been able to turn out like Jet did (almost killing innocents aside). He’s only gotten to where he is today with the help of his Uncle. Jet didn’t have anyone to lean on. He had to learn on his own and had the responsibility of taking care of others. 

The way Jet interacts with Smellerbee and Longshot reminds Zuko of his cousin Lu Ten. In between his times at war, he’d always be there when Zuko was running away from Azula or tired of firebending training. Lu Ten had given him the idea to start learning swordsmanship, which has no doubt saved his life multiple times. 

“They must be good kids, you sound proud.” Jet smiles and agrees at that. They continue walking in an easy silence. 

They reach a town by dusk, something Zuko is grateful for. He’d like to eat something other than fish, nuts and edible foliage that the Freedom Fighters found. Luckily, the four have enough money pulled together to get a plate each. To save the remainder, they won’t be staying in an inn, they’ll continue walking until they find a nice area for a camp. 

________________

_He’s surrounded by flames, he can feel his face burning, he can hear people yelling, he can taste the blood in his mouth. He wants to run, but he can’t make himself move. Everything around him is happening so fast, but his body is sluggish and isn’t doing what he wants it to do. Flames get closer and closer, getting ready to swallow him whole. A face is forming in the flames. Their mouth opens as “Li” is yelled and someone is shaking him._

Zuko jolts awake and his body moves faster than his brain. When he is aware of his surroundings, he notices that Smellerbee and Longshot are still asleep and he has Jet pinned under him. He jumps away and curls into himself, unconsciously rubbing his scar with his hand. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean, I don’t want—” Zuko gets cut off by Jet. 

“Hey hey, it’s okay, I shouldn’t have woken you up like that,” Jet says this in a gentle voice. “Is it alright if I hold you?”

Zuko hesitates at that. He’s not used to affection, only three people in his life have ever shown him any, one is missing, one is dead, one probably hates him. Slowly, he meets Jet’s eyes and nods his head. Jet scoots closer to Zuko and pulls him to his chest. 

With strong arms supporting him, Zuko relaxes into the hug and rests his head on Jet’s shoulder. He takes a breath and sighs it out. Silence follows. Jet’s hands rubbing against Zuko’s back, offering comfort. 

“You never asked,” Zuko says after a few moments in silence. 

“Never asked what?” Jet asks with a tilt of his head. 

“You never asked how I got my scar,” Zuko answers, lifting his head up. 

Jet hums before replying. 

“Because I don’t need to know. But if you want to talk about it, I’m here to listen.”

Zuko looks away from Jet. He can’t look him in the eyes when he’s not telling the full truth to Jet about who he is. They’ve known each other for a few weeks now and Zuko has gotten to bond with the three Freedom Fighters. He hates having to lie to them constantly.

“It was my father. I embarrassed him in front of his colleagues and this was the result. After that, he all but disowned me and kicked me out. That was three years ago.” 

He wants to go into more detail, but he holds himself back. A beat of silence passes before a hand lightly gribs Zuko’s jaw. Jet turns Zuko to face him. They make eye contact and Zuko feels relief through his body when he doesn’t see any anger in Jet’s face. 

“Your father is a firebender. You’re Fire Nation,” Jet says. “Not even a year ago, I would’ve been hurt and angry by that fact. You lied to us.” 

Zuko tenses in anticipation of the need to run away. Jet takes a breath before continuing. 

“But Li, you are not a soldier. You are not who is hurting these people. You have been hurt by the Fire Nation, too,” Jet says. He brings his thumb to the scar on Zuko’s face, rubbing gently as Zuko closes his eyes. 

“That’s not all. I’m also a firebender,” Zuko says with his eyes still closed. 

“And yet, here you are, running to safety with the rest of us. You aren’t them. Li, I’ve seen you help out villagers as we pass through towns. You listen to them, give encouragement, do odd jobs for free and whatever else you’ve done when you run off with someone who asked for help. I trust you, Li.” 

As Jet was talking, Zuko opened his eyes to meet Jet’s own. There’s a small smile on both their faces. 

“Thank you. Do you think the others will?” Zuko doesn’t finish the question before Jet is already responding.

“They’ll feel the same as me. Do you want me to tell them?” 

He gets a nod in response. They sit there for a few more minutes before Zuko gets up to go meditate. The other two should be up by the time he’s done, hopefully giving Jet enough time to talk to them before Zuko gets back to camp. 

________________

Now that his three companions are aware of his firebending, Zuko’s able to do more than meditate for training. He asked them if it was alright before he started, but at least one of them watches every time he practices. Their weariness is justified, Zuko thinks to himself. 

Since he’s busy training, Zuko doesn’t notice the looks of amazement or shared comments from the Freedom Fighters. While he looks serious, Zuko’s movements are so graceful they are more akin to dancing than fighting. 

“Li sure is something,” Smellerbee says to her two friends. They all joined in watching him this time. 

“Yeah, he really is,” Jet agrees, beside him Longshot hummed in response. 

Once he’s finished training, Zuko joins the three in sitting on the ground. Longshot hands him his water pouch, which Zuko gratefully accepts. 

“You all could join me in training if you would like,” Zuko offers with a hesitant smile. “I don’t even need to use my firebending, it could just be with my dao.” 

He was not prepared to get three beaming smiles and quick acceptances in return. The person he ends up training with the most is Jet. While Jet is good with his hook swords, he is not as good as Zuko, who was trained under a swordmaster. The fights Jet has a better chance of winning are the hand-to-hand fights. Jet insists upon them, since there could be times when Zuko needs to keep his bending secret and he doesn’t have his swords. 

All four of them have two-on-two practice fights. Zuko loves working with Longshot, who is great at strategy. The two boys work seamlessly together. It is fun working with Smellerbee too, those battles are often full of sneaking and pranks. When he’s paired with Jet, the two are an unstoppable force. On the days those two are paired, the two youngest can be found collapsed on the ground groaning from the intense workout. 

The training does come in handy during their travels. There were a few times they had run into some Fire Nation soldiers. Most of the time, they try to steer clear of them, but when it comes to helping citizens or running, the choice is already made for them. Zuko and Jet, who also dons a mask, handle the close range fighting with the soldiers. Meanwhile, Smellerbee and Longshot ensure the citizens are out of range. 

________________

The past few weeks flew by for the group, they enjoyed their time spent traveling, but are also looking forward to the second chance at life in Ba Sing Se. They made it to the town with the ferry to the city and only had a few loose ends before they could set on the final leg of their journey. The Freedom Fighters would go sell the ostrich-horse on their way to get passports.

Since Zuko had a passport from his time with his uncle, he was off to find out the ferry departure times. On his way to the ferry office, he saw a wanted poster. He doesn’t know how this version of his wanted poster is this close to Ba Sing Se, but he hopes none of the Freedom Fighters have seen it. 

His unmasked face staring back at him, almost mockingly. This new life is too good to be true, it will never work, it says. He rips the poster off the bulletin and shoves it in his bag. He’ll burn it later. The Freedom Fighters won’t find out. Let his new friends stay with him for a little longer, Agni please.

Zuko hurries to the ferry office to get the times and makes a note of them for the next couple days. They had options if obtaining identification for the Freedom Fighters takes longer than expected. 

“We can go pick up the passports tomorrow morning,” Jet tells Zuko once the three got back to their camp. They are staying just outside of the town, the money from odd jobs should be enough for the ferry and housing for a few days in Ba Sing Se. They’ll need to watch what they spend at first, but once they all find jobs they shouldn’t have to worry too much. 

“Perfect, there’s a ferry in the afternoon that we’ll be able to take.” Zuko can’t believe they’ve come this far. Finally, their new life starts tomorrow. 

Jet grins in response and pulls Zuko in for a hug. He makes it a group hug by grabbing the other two when they try to walk past them. 

“Tomorrow,” Jet says, sounding shocked by that revelation. Like he hadn’t believed they would make it to this point. 

“Tomorrow,” the others repeat, Longshot nodding his agreement with the statement. They are still holding onto each other when Zuko squeaks out a sneeze, causing them to break the hold and start laughing. 

“Li, your sneezes are so tiny and cute.” Smellerbee smirks at him while saying this. 

Throughout their travels, Smellerbee and Zuko have been known to tease and mess with each other. Zuko called Smellerbee small once and then found snail-slugs all over his swords a few hours later. That event started a series of pranks that has not come to an end, the two want to catch the other by surprise so they typically wait a week or two before their next prank. Right now, Smellerbee is trying to bait Zuko into something and he’s not falling for it. 

“Thanks, Bee,” Zuko says cheerfully, causing Smellerbee to pout at her failed attempt. Longshot is there patting her on the shoulder in consolation, but also to lend an ear for her future pranking plans. Jet watches on in amusement during this interaction. 

It’s nearing dinner time, so the group starts a fire after catching some squirrel-mice. Zuko starts preparing them, when Jet offers to help. 

“There’s another knife in my bag you can use,” Zuko says, thinking nothing of it. He continues working in silence when Jet is suddenly in front of him, clearly upset. “Hey, what’s wron—oh no.” 

He forgot about the wanted poster in his bag. The wanted poster currently gripped in Jet’s hand. 

“Yeah, oh no, Li or I guess I should say Zuko,” Jet says with a frown on his face and a tick in his brow. He accepted Zuko when he thought he was a runaway firebender, which okay he still is, but now he has Fire Nation’s Prince added to the list of identifiers. Zuko’s family has been ruining everything they’ve touched in the world for years. 

“Jet, please listen, I left, I’m a traitor to them, they want me dead,” Zuko rambles anxiously to get his point across.

Ever since leaving the forest, Jet’s had to come to terms with the fact that he’s not always right. If he could turn back time knowing what he knows now, he wouldn’t have attempted to flood that town. With accepting that he’s not always right, he has to challenge things he believed previously. 

When he met Zuko as Li and learned he was a firebender, that was the first challenge. He was comforting his friend and after seeing Zuko scared from his nightmare, Jet couldn’t force himself to push Zuko away when he found out. 

Now he learns that not only is Zuko a firebender, but he’s the Fire Lord’s son. The Fire Lord who ordered soldiers to terrorize his village causing his parents to be killed. But Zuko isn’t his father. He's not ordering soldiers to do these horrible things, Zuko’s here with him. Zuko ran away from his family. Zuko is wanted by the Fire Nation. He’s got a bounty on his head. Zuko is, and always has been since he joined them, a Freedom Fighter. He’s fought alongside them against Fire Nation soldiers. 

While Jet was stuck in his thoughts, Zuko has not stopped rambling and Jet is a little worried he’s not breathing from how fast he’s talking. Jet comes back into focus when Zuko is saying, “I’m not with them, I’m with you.” 

And that’s something. It’s along the lines of what Jet was thinking. He’s with them. “Hey,” Jet says and Zuko silences himself. 

Jet reaches out, slowly, to the back of Zuko’s head and pulls him in to rest on his shoulder. His touch is light, allowing Zuko to move away at any time. Still, Zuko melts into the touch. 

“You’re right,” Jet says finally. Then a moment later, “Did you both catch any of what he was saying? Because I can’t be the one to explain everything again. We’re good with this.” 

This being Zuko’s wanted poster, which Jet throws into the fire. Smellerbee and Longshot, who were witnesses to the revelation this time, nod in response. 

“Sweet, let's get those squirrel-mice ready to go.” Jet grabs the knife from Zuko’s bag, picks up a squirrel-mouse and gets to work like nothing happened. 

Zuko looks over at the other two, who shrug and walk over to him. He gets a pat on the back from each and a smile.

“Do you want us to keep calling you Li?” Smellerbee asks.

“You can call me Zuko when we’re not in public, but because of-” He makes a gesture at the burnt poster in the fire. “You should still call me Li around others.” 

“Got it, Zuko.” She tries out the name. 

Longshot gives a thumbs up and sits next to Zuko in what Zuko sees as a form of acceptance. Over the weeks, he’d like to think he’s grown to understand what Longshot means with his actions, used in place of words. He’s always there to give support to Smellerbee, Jet, and Zuko. They make sure to let him know he’s appreciated and they are there for him as well. 

A weight has been lifted off of Zuko’s shoulders with his final secret being found out. He grabs the squirrel-mouse he dropped earlier and continues preparing it. He looks over at Jet, who’s already done with the rest of the squirrel-mice, and catches his eye. Jet smiles at him and he returns it. 

Tomorrow, a new start will really happen for all of them.

**Author's Note:**

> I may have already started a second part to this...starting like 6 months after they arrive in Ba Sing Se and jetko is established.
> 
> Yelling as I post this, I hope y'all like it.
> 
> sky :)


End file.
